I do not own Yu-Gi-Oh.
Please note that this work of fiction is not an accurate historical writing.
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Cherry Blossoms and Blood
Chapter 2 – Talks of Love
"I see. So, the war between clans is spreading. Is it true the Hirotezu, Shukumei, and Getoku clans have all left their dojos and gone to fight in the war?" a man asked, looking down at his messenger.
The man had short and spiky brown hair, with pale grey eyes. He was wearing a male kimono the same type as Yami Motou's, the top being white, and the bottom, a grey that matched his eyes. He was wearing a tan shirt underneath the kimono top he had on. His name was Makoto Saniirei, the leader of one of Kyoto's largest clans, the Yasuragi.
"It seems that many cities have been lost in flame," said the messenger. Makoto sighed sadly, and then waved his arm at the messenger. "You may go, Hitoshi," he said.
Hitoshi left the middle-aged man to his thoughts. Makoto leaned back against his dresser, rocking back and forth. So many clans will be wiped out if this war continues…no one listens to me, they think I am a joke of a leader, just because I refuse to fight in this foolish war. Sooner or later, all of the clans in Japan will face each other off, and they will realize, while they are being slaughtered mercilessly, that I was right. But, there is nothing I can do, and until then, I must keep my clan in good shape, just in case raids befall my dojo, he thought.
Down the hall from his room, two best friends were having a little sword fight.
Otogi Ryuuji jumped backwards, dodging a slash aimed at him. He fell backwards, nearly falling on a vase, and a wooden sword was pointed directly at his throat. He growled, an evil look on his face, but then, he grinned, moving the sword's wooden blade out of his way. "Alright, Hiroto, you win," he said, standing up.
Said man was a handsome, well-built guy. Hiroto Honda had brown hair and brown eyes. He was wearing a two-piece male kimono, with a short-sleeved dark green top, and a black baggy bottom. His real sword was fastened well to his hip.
Otogi Ryuuji had black hair that he tied up in a ponytail. His eyes were a majestic emerald green, with a small black slash marking traveled down his eye. One ear was pierced with two silver earrings. He wore a three-piece male kimono with an open dark red kimono top, an off-white short-sleeved shirt underneath, and black kimono shorts. His sword was resting by the wall.
Hiroto smiled. "Oto, you really need to shape up. When I first came here, I was never able to beat you," he said, throwing the wooden sword to the side and sitting down on his knees, perspiring slightly from the practice fight. Otogi rubbed his eyes, shaking his head. Earlier, Hiroto had delivered a rather painful blow to his head, causing to lose focus slightly. "Well, that's because you weren't under training of the best leader in the world, Makoto Saniirei," he replied, rubbing his head. "Yeah, but now I'm in his favor to become the next Master of this dojo. He doesn't have any living relatives, so he has to pick the man who he sees fit to be the next leader. Who would've thought he'd favor me?" Hiroto replied. Otogi smiled halfheartedly. "Oh come on, you're perfect for the job. You're a great fighter and you're smart," he said, with a slight icy sound to his voice. Hiroto gave his best friend a strange look. "Yeah, but I would think you're the best one for the job. But, it's the Master's decision, not mine," he said kindly.
Otogi merely looked away, and the room filled with silence for a few minutes, until the black-haired man spoke up. "Anyway, did you hear about the attack the Kuragari clan brought upon the Ryuuketsu clan? They only sent one man to kill that one assassin, Bakura Ryo. How foolish are they? The guy killed three people yesterday, and it doesn't even look like they even put up a fight." Hiroto leaned back against the wall. "Yeah well, he probably didn't give the guys a chance. I heard they were drug swindlers anyway." "Yeah, but Master doesn't approve of their deaths. He said that they should have been turned over to the police, not killed. But he also disagrees with Yami Motou sending people to kill Bakura," Otogi said. "Oto, Master is a non-violent person. His wife and three sons were killed by thieves who were seeking revenge on him for giving their crime locations to police. Ever since then he just doesn't like blood," Hiroto said.
Otogi was taken aback. "What?" he asked Hiroto, a confused look on his face. Hiroto chuckled. "You mean he didn't tell you? A few days after he pronounced me to be in his favor as becoming the next Master to the dojo, he told me about his wife and children. I would've thought he'd told you, seeing as how you've been here longer." Otogi shook his head. No one ever told me about that! How...how could Master tell him but not me? He didn't even tell me when he favored me! But after Hiroto came, and he was trained up a bit, I lost favor and he gained it. But why didn't Master tell me! …Oh, this is nothing to get angry over. I'm Hiroto's best buddy, I'm proud of him. But I'm still jealous, he thought.
Otogi decided to change the subject. "Uh…so, any luck with the ladies?" he asked, grinning. He and Hiroto always talked about women in their spare time. His fellow clan members didn't like talking about women much, and when Hiroto came, Otogi was relieved to find out that he was a bit of a pervert as well.
Hiroto laughed. "The only luck I've had with those things is at the house," he said. "When did you go to the house, and why wasn't I informed?" Otogi asked. "It was two weeks ago, and you were busy spying for the Kuragari clan. I wanted to pay one of those women off for you, but the owner of the place said his women weren't takeout, you had to eat them there, so you were outta luck on that." Otogi sighed. "Ah, well, I'm trying on that anyway. I've got a girl in my radar," he said. "Is it the one woman who cleans the rooms? Because she's quite a fox," the brown-haired man asked. "No, my friend, but you are correct—she is quite a hottie. No, the woman I'm talking about isn't even part of this clan," his black-haired friend replied. "Really? Sounds a lot like the woman I like. But you go first," Hiroto said, sounding interested. "She's part of the Fujin clan, you know, the clan with all female members. Her name's Shizuka Kawaii," said Otogi. Hiroto gasped. "The one with the long orange hair and the amber eyes?" "Yeah, that's the one. She's probably the hottest chick I've ever seen," Otogi said. Hiroto burst out laughing, falling over. Otogi glared at him. "What's so funny? She is hot!" he declared. Hiroto took a deep breath, trying not to laugh. "I…I like her too!" he said, nearly choking with laughter.
Otogi's heart skipped a beat. "What?" he asked. Hiroto swallowed some more laughter and managed to sit upright. "Well, you hear me. I like her too! When I was sent to their dojo to clear up some business with them, Shizuka was also in the room, and I could barely talk when I saw her! She's quite the girl," he said. Otogi growled. "Well, I've known her longer, so back off," he said. Hiroto stared at his friend, shocked. "Ok, ok, jeez Oto. You don't have to get all competitive. Besides, you've known her longer, so she probably likes you already. Calm down," he said. Otogi's frown slipped off his face. "Yeah, sorry about that bud, it's just I don't want to lose to you again," he said, laughing. Hiroto cocked his head. "Lose to me again? Are you talking about the fight we just had?"
Otogi's eyes widened slightly. He can't be serious! Don't tell Master didn't tell him that I was the favored one before him! He probably didn't want Hiroto trying to discourage him from making him the next Master, saying that I should be the next one, not him. Damn, Master is too nice for his own good sometimes.
A man poked his head into the room. "Honda, Master has requested your presence for a meeting with the Dinsu clan," he said. "Really? Me? I'm not important enough to go to one of those meetings, Hibachi," Hiroto pointed out. Hibachi shook his head, grinning. "No clue. Hiroto, you're in favor to him, he wants you to start your training for your Mastership immediately!" Hiroto grinned. "Really? Awesome, he must have already decided! But I don't feel like I can do this job…I'm coming!" he added as a response to Hibachi's impatient clicks of his tongue.
Hiroto flicked his sword's hilt and turned his head towards Otogi. "See you later Oto," he said, leaving the room with Hibachi. Otogi held up a hand as a goodbye. And to think, that could have been me going to that meeting right now. I'm telling you, Hiroto, you are one lucky bastard.
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"Don't forget to give your leader my message. Now, big boy, kindly get out of my face before I have to kill you," an amused and honey-glazed voice said to a man with a slash across his face and shoulder. The woman who had spoken let go of his ear and kicked him. "Get going, stupid fool! Tell Michio that I'd rather marry a dead hog than him. And if he sends his goons like you after any of my fellow women, I'll pay him a little visit myself," she said, slashing the air with her sword as a threat. The man, stumbling from his wounds, ran towards the entrance of the dojo, trying to get out of there as fast as possible, leaving large drops of blood as he went. Mai Kujaku stared sadly at the blood spots. "Great, and I just had the front grounds looking splendous, and what does he do? Ruin it."
Mai Kujaku was the leader of the Kyoto clan Fujin, a clan famous for being the only clan in Japan with all-female members. Mai had long blonde hair that was very wavy and bushy, that went down to her hips. She had violet eyes. She was wearing a very fashionable kimono, as she loved dressing as sexily as she could. The kimono was a royal purple color. The bottom half of the kimono was two different sizes—the left half was long and went down to her ankle, while the other half was very short and showed off her slender right leg, stopping just over her kneecap. She did not wear an obi; she wore a dark purple cloth belt instead, which hung diagonally from her hip. She wore an amethyst ankle bracelet on her revealed leg, and a necklace choker with dark purple stones set in the chain.
Mai withdrew her hands into her kimono sleeves and walked back into her dojo. Everyone she passed bowed respectfully towards her, and the young leader replied with smiles. She entered the meeting room and the council gave her a few impatient looks. "What took you so long?" asked Tomoyo Ichikazu, the messenger for the clan. "I had some dirt to clean up," Mai replied, raising her bloodstained sword out of its sheathe very slightly. Reiko Kitiyura giggled. "Those freaks from the Saikou clan again?" she asked. "Naturally," Mai replied, sitting down next to her advisor. "Alright, Shizuka, what did I miss?" "Nothing really, we just started when you had to leave."
Shizuka Kawaii had long orange-red hair, and large amber eyes. She was wearing a fancy kimono herself. The color was a citrus orange color. One of the sleeves was long, the other short. The front of her kimono was very short, around twelve inches long, whereas the back went halfway down past her knees. Her bow obi was a burning orange color, and the long sleeve of her kimono was decorated with white bubbles, as was the front part of the bottom half of her kimono.
"Good, I hate having people repeating what they say," Mai said, sitting down. "So, how are those clan friendships going?" she asked, turning towards Hana Karamoto. "Well, the Shukumei, Getoku, and Hirotezu clans have left for the war," she replied. Mai groaned. "Why is everyone leaving for that stupid war? They'll all just come back with half of their men gone, and no one would have accomplished anything," she said. Shizuka sighed. "I liked the Getoku clan, the men there were always so nice to me," she said. Tomoyo rolled her eyes. "Yeah, that's just because they were checking out your goods." Shizuka blinked. "What do you mean?" she asked. Hana and Reiko giggled. "She's not very educated in love talk, is she?" Mai shook her head, annoyed. "I have no time to be teaching all of you about love talk. Now can we get back to business?" Hana stopped giggling, but still had a grin on her face. "Yes, well, we still have tight connections with the Sono, Kurayamei, Yasuragi, Mikayo, Ryuuketsu, and Kuragari clans." Mai sighed with relief. "Perfect, at least we know they won't be going anywhere anytime soon. They think this war is just a bunch of crap also."
The meeting ended close to sundown. The cooks were preparing dinner, and the girls were hurrying to the dining room. Mai and Shizuka walked there together. "I can't believe this war is growing. A whole bunch of cities in have already turned to ash because of this pointless fighting," Mai said, looking angry. "Yes, well, soon they'll realize the errors of their ways and come back, hopefully before their clans are half dead," Shizuka said. "You are always the optimistic one," Mai said, entering the dining room with her best friend.
Mai took a seat at the head of the low table, sitting on her cushion with her knees tucked under her bosom. Shizuka sat next to her, separated by a flimsy corner. The council sat closer to the leader, while the other members sat at the other end of the table. As the cooks brought out the food, everyone lapsed into conversation.
Mai picked up her chopsticks and began to pick the shrimp out of her double shrimp ramen. "So, Shiz," she said, plopping a fat shrimp into her mouth, "Got any men on your mind lately?"
Shizuka ate some fine white rice, smiling. "I'm not sure. There's this one boy who I know has had his eye on me ever since we met," she said, swallowing the white delicacy and starting on her beef. Mai closed one of her eyes in a sort of long wink, and watched Shizuka, meaning she was interested. "Really? Which clan is he in?" she asked the redhead. Shizuka swallowed a chunk of beef. "He's from the Yasuragi clan. Otogi Ryuuji."
Mai let out a laugh. "Really! Well, you sure attract the best guys! He's quite the looker," she said, eating massive amounts of ramen noodles. Shizuka flushed slightly. "But, I don't really like him that way," she said. "And why not? I think he's perfect for you," Mai said through a mouthful of ramen. Shizuka frowned in thought. "He's not my type," she said. Mai raised an eyebrow. "And what makes you say that?" "Well, he's really reckless, for one, I mean, he always loves fighting and picking fights, and instead of solving a simple argument with words he always resorts to his sword. Also, he's kind of a slob."
Mai rocked back and forth, thinking. "I suppose you have a point there, hon. Well, any others guys drooling over you that you think are decent enough for you?" she asked. Shizuka finished her rice. "Well, not to long ago Yasuragi recruited a new member, and he seemed to like me. He could barely speak during that meeting, Tomoyo thought he had some sort of vocal disorder," she said. Mai chuckled. "I remember that guy, Honda right?" "Yes, his name was Hiroto Honda. When he was able to talk, he seemed like a very sweet and smart guy," Shizuka said. Mai nodded. "I'll have to check up on this Hiroto guy. Hopefully I can plan another meeting with Yasuragi soon, so you can see him," she said, finishing her ramen and beginning to drink the soup part of it. Shizuka looked surprised. "You can't honestly set up a meeting just so I can spy on Hiroto!" she said, flushing. Mai narrowed her eyes and smiled slyly. "Oh really, hon? Just watch me."
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"I will not have this discussion with you," Bakura said simply, turning away from his friend. "Oh, come on Bakura, you have to at least pretend you have emotions. And one of those emotions is called love. Don't tell me you haven't found a girl who you like!" Malik exclaimed, sipping his bowl of miso soup. "I haven't," Bakura sad in his trademark calm tone. Seto was sitting at the head of the table, a table corner away from Bakura. He was stuffing his mouth full of chirashi sushi, his favorite type of sushi. "Oh c'mon Bakura, I know you've got a crush somewhere in that assassin heart of yours," the brown-haired clan leader said quite audibly, despite his mouth being full to the brim with sushi and egg bits. "I do not," Bakura said again, his voice not changing the slightest.
However, this he was not sure of. Whenever approaching a certain woman, he would seem to lose a slight bit of his stature, yet it was so unnoticeable the woman wouldn't even notice. He had done this woman great favor, which was quite unlike him. If someone was doing something Seto didn't allow, he would have reported it. Yet, when he realized Anzu was in that room because she was practicing the sword, he grabbed the blade and his it up his sleeve before anyone could notice. Why he did this, he did not know…yet, ever since that day, he has wanted to talk to her about it, yet he never was able to speak around her.
Malik eyed him carefully, sipping his soup quietly. "Come on, damnit, make some sort of body hint so we can figure out who your secret crush is already!" he said. Seto snorted, nearly chocking on his tea. Isis, who was also seated at the head of the table next to her husband, giggled. "You men are awfully clueless when it comes to love. Malik, can you honestly not tell whom the boy likes?" she asked. "Hey, I'm not clueless! I know that Seto loves you," Malik said. Seto rolled her eyes and looked down at Isis's slightly larger belly. "Well, I wonder how you figured that," he said. Malik shuddered. "Don't remind me how exactly Isis got pregnant," he said. Bakura merely blinked. "It is not something that should be discussed during dinner," he said. Isis blushed. "You men think about sex too much. Just remember, there will be none of that type of talk when my baby arrives," she said.
Malik and Seto laughed. "Anyway, who does Bakura like?" he asked. Isis smiled, and Bakura's eyes darted toward her. "Well, you'll have to figure that out on your own," she said, depositing a sweet potato chunk into her mouth. "Come on Isis! For me, your beloved Malik?" he begged. Isis and Seto raised their eyebrows at the sandy-blonde man.
Anzu sat at the table, eating her rice quietly. Malik sighed when he looked at her. "She looks so calm…yet she also looks kind of sad at the same time. She's the only one who isn't talking to someone else." Isis sighed. "The poor dear just isn't very open at the moment. Her own parents sent her to a whorehouse against her wishes because they couldn't afford her, and after they died, Anzu felt so alone and betrayed. It's a good thing we got her out of there. But still, she probably is afraid to trust us, probably worried we'll just break her heart if we send her away. She still thinks she's just here temporarily," the black-haired woman said.
"In a way, she's like Bakura, except Bakura wasn't betrayed by his parents and he trusts us all with his lives," Malik said. Bakura nodded and cast a look at Anzu. Isis merely stood up. "Well, I think dinner is over," she said to the clan members. "If you aren't finished eating, stay and eat up, because me and the other ladies didn't make this food to be wasted."
Laughs rang around the room and people began to leave with their friends; others stayed to finish their portions. Bakura, Malik, Seto, and Isis stood up. "Well, we have to make sure no one tries to attack Bakura again tonight," Seto said. "Anzu dear, come over here please," Isis called. The brunette turned around. She was walking alone. She walked over to the small group. "Yes Mistress?" she asked. "I want you to stay in your room tonight. I don't want anyone attacking you again. Your safety is one of my top priorities and I would be heartbroken if you were killed," said Isis. Anzu smiled slightly. "Thank you, Mistress," she said, bowing and rushing off.
"Does she always have to bow? I should tell her to not be so polite," Isis said. Seto put his kimono sleeves together. "Yes well, it's nice to have a very sweet girl like her around," he said, sighing. "I think I'll have to go over to the Kuragari dojo and tell them to stop attacking my assassins," he said. "Are you mad Seto? Remember, Yami Motou has sent men to kill you in the past," Isis said. "You'll be walking into a death wish if you go there!" "Yes, Isis, but Yami Motou is not a fool. He doesn't try to kill me whenever he gets the chance; he plans out his attacks with deep thought. He would never attack me during a meeting; that is an extreme violation of their clan's code," Seto said. "Ah, that reminds me. I need to send Taka, Shurihime, and Ishtar on an assignment," he remembered.
"Finally, I get to be in some of the action! It's been a week and a half since my last dispatch. So, who are the criminals we get to kill?" Malik asked. "A crime ring of gamblers. When they gamble, the people opposing them either win or lose, of course. Then they kill the unfortunate gamblers and take all of their money. So, we decided to take matters into our own hands," Seto said. "Sounds like fun," Malik said.
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